Fear is a dangerous state of mind that can consume anyone and anything. Fear has the ability to drive people to take extreme action in an attempt to eradicate the perceived threat at the root of their fear. The Cold War era thrived on the Western world's fear of communism. The fear of communism manifested itself in hatred and violence, which permeated and influenced important aspects of the 20th century. Through the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the implications of McCarthyism, and the development of Kennan's containment strategy, America and its allies created further geopolitical problems by letting their fear influence foreign policy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the end of World War II, two major political opposites emerged. These are America and the Soviet Union. These opposing powers also had radically different views on how a country should be governed. The Soviet Union and its allies were communist countries while America and its allies were democratic. The war left many European countries in economic and political chaos, thus susceptible to Soviet communism. The thought of communism spreading to more parts of Europe struck fear into many democratic politicians. As a result, America became heavily involved in European politics. In 1947, Britain endorsed Harry S. Truman, president of the United States. Britain had provided aid to Greece in the civil war against the Greek Communist Party. Truman felt an obligation to provide aid to Greece to prevent the further spread of communism in Europe. He asked the Senate to provide aid to both Türkiye and Greece in the form of financial aid as well as military personnel and equipment. Truman stated in his Senate speech that “the seeds of totalitarian regimes are nourished by poverty and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and conflict. They reach their full growth when a people's hope for a better life dies. We must keep this hope alive. The world had to attempt to extinguish the growing flame of communism. The implication of the Truman doctrine produced great improvements in both Türkiye and Greece. Both countries were able to avoid falling under communist rule. A year later, in 1948, the Marshall Plan was introduced The Marshall Plan was different from the Truman Doctrine in that it was “not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its aim should be to revive a functioning economy in the world so as to permit the existence of political and political social conditions in which free institutions can exist” (Marshall). This financial aid was offered to any European country in need, regardless of whether it was communist or democratic. According to British historian Paul Kennady, the Marshall Plan was a strategic way of promoting to Americans that democracy was the best way to govern a country. The Soviet Union understood the American plans and forced small European countries with which they had ties not to accept aid. The Marshall Plan, like its predecessor, the Truman Doctrine, produced great benefits in the economic reconstruction of Europe and in laying the foundations for further containment of the communist resistance that dominated Eastern Europe. With the Marshall Plan working extremely well, Europe was starting to feel comfortable believing that the communist infestation was atmind you. This did not last long as the Soviet Union began to act against America and its allies. On June 2, 1948, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, transforming the country from a democratic state to a communist one. Before the Communist takeover, Czechoslovakia had attempted to use aid from the Marshall Plan to rebuild after the war. When the Soviet Union took power, concerns among the world's democratic powers increased. Only a few weeks later the Soviet Union took another alarming action. This is clearly against America and its allies. They cut off food supplies to Berlin. Berlin is located in the eastern part of Germany, which at the time belonged to the Soviet Union. West Germany was collectively run by the Allies, but since Berlin was the largest city, the Allies and the Soviets reached an agreement to also divide Berlin into a Western and an Eastern part. This allowed West Germany to build a single highway to access West Berlin, but on June 24, 1948, access to western Berlin was cut off. This prevented any food from entering West Berlin. This forced the Allies to airlift food to West Berlin for nearly a year. The Berlin Blockade, as it became known, has been hailed by historians as one of the first events of the Cold War. These two seemingly violent events, occurring just weeks apart, sent the Allies into a frenzy of fear. This fear led them to take further action in less diplomatic and peaceful ways. On April 4, 1949, Western nations gathered in Washington DC to form what became the backbone of Western European military policy and procedure for the next forty years. It was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was developed for the military protection of Western powers against communism. According to Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, NATO was created “to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in and the Germans down”. this military alliance was a way to provide protection from the threat of communism. The original members of NATO were Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. NATO did militarily what the Marshall Plan did economically for Europe. This military movement was primarily led by the United States and sought to stop further communist expansion in Europe. As political tensions increased in Europe, fear of communism was spreading rapidly among ordinary Americans. Starting in January 1950, a senator named Joseph McCarthy became known to the public. He capitalized on the collective fear and paranoia of the Communists and claimed that only he could save America from Russian spies. Due to political tension and the Cold War, his claims were taken seriously. This led him to publish in February 1950 a list of 205 names in the US State Department that he believed were members of the Communist Party. He later reduced his list to just fifty-seven names. Although the list contained only fifty-seven names, thousands of people were called to the witness stand to testify. McCarthy's accusations were so intimidating that few people dared speak out against him for fear of being accused of having communist ties. He also portrayed Truman as a dangerous liberal, and McCarthy's campaign ultimately helped the Republican candidate, Dwight Eisihower, win the presidential election in 1952. He continued his communist witch hunts even after Eisenhower took office. In October 1953 McCarthy began toinvestigate the US Army. McCarthy attempted to discredit Robert Stevens, the Secretary of the Army, as he argued that the US Army was too soft on communism. Eisenhower realized that McCarthy had gone too far and it was time for his communist witch hunt to end. On December 2, 1954, the Senate formally convicted him by a vote of 67 to 22. Although he did not lose his job, he lost much of his power in the Senate. Joseph McCarthy never had enough evidence to charge any of the people he interrogated with treason, but even so, the fear he aroused in Americans had a lasting effect. More than 2000 public employees lost their jobs as a result of his investigations. McCarthy's investigations left Americans with this looming fear of communism that caused citizens to push for more aggressive action against communism in subsequent years. At the end of World War II the American government knew that the Soviet Union was a growing threat. Few people in the West had experience with the Soviets, so it was difficult to understand their motivations and strategies. George F. Kennan was an American diplomat living in the Soviet Union at the end of the war. He had first-hand observations and experiences with the Soviets. He wrote an 8,000 word telegram to the US Department of Defense. This became known as the “long telegram” and earned him a reputation as the leading Soviet government expert. He abruptly transitioned from Soviet diplomat to Cold War strategist. In 1947 he revealed his idea of ​​the containment strategy in the famous magazine “Forgin Affairs” under the name Mr.X. Keenan stated “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansionist tendencies.” He believed that if American foreign policy was rooted in non-confrontational actions, this would be enough to maintain communism only within the Soviet Union and restore democratic freedom in the rest of Europe. According to John Lewis Gaddis, an American historian and prominent scholar of the Cold War, the idea of ​​containment policy triggered a change in American policy. “The new strategy manifested itself in the Truman Doctorite” as well as in the Marshall Plan (22). Keenan's containment strategy fundamentally changed American forging policy. It was as it was thought during the Cold War era, one of the most important periods would be during the Korean War. When Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, it lost all of its colonies. Similar to Germany, the Allies and Soviets overthrew Korea. Korea did not have its own government at the time, so the Soviet Union looked after the North and the Southern allies. The split occurred hastily, the Allies were more focused on dismembering Japan instead of helping Korea. The split was supposed to be a temporary way for Korea to rule on its own. In the following years, the Communist Party in North Korea led by Kim Il-Sung grew rapidly. The UN saw that the South and North were unable to reach an agreement on how to govern Korea, so they proposed that South Korea become its own sovereign nation. This aroused indignation among the North Korean communists. Tensions continued to rise until finally North Korea, with direct permission from the Soviet Union, attacked across the 38th parallel in June 1950 and captured South Korea's capital, Seoul. Truman was initially reluctant to engage in combat, but also feared that South Korea might fall to communism as WELL. He sent Army General Douglas MacArthur to Korea to protect the citizens and Americans there.